US-India Trade Deal Roils Currency And Stock Markets
Wall Street is straining to absorb a flood of new bonds from tech companies funding their artificial intelligence investments
On Episode 734 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Kunal Sodhani, Vice President, Shinhan Bank as well as Sachin Seth, Chairman of CRIF High Mark and Regional MD, CRIF India and South Asia.
SHOW NOTES
(00:00) Stories of the Day
(00:50) US India trade deal or lack of it roils currency and stock markets.
(03:25) Why did the RBI step back from currency markets last week?
(11:06) A global merger deal driven by a race for copper falls apart
(14:02) What are US CEOs saying about high import tariffs
(16:38) How Indians are shifting towards secured credit and bigger ticket loans
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NOTE: This transcript contains the host's monologue and includes interview transcripts by a machine. Human eyes have gone through the script but there might still be errors in some of the text, so please refer to the audio in case you need to clarify any part. If you want to get in touch regarding any feedback, you can drop us a message on [email protected].
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Good morning, it's Tuesday, the 25th of November, and this is Govindraj Ethiraj broadcasting and streaming weekdays from Mumbai, India's financial capital.
And our top stories and themes for today…
The U.S.-India trade deal, or the lack of it, roils currency and stock markets.
Why did the Reserve Bank of India step away from currency markets last week?
What are American CEOs saying about high import tariffs?
A global merger deal driven by a race for copper falls apart.
And how Indians are shifting towards secured credit and bigger ticket loans.
Trade Tensions
The U.S.-India trade deal, or the lack of it, is still hanging over the markets.
The currency markets have taken a bigger hit in recent days, and more on that shortly. Stocks closed lower on Monday after another choppy session, though global markets did see some buying interest. At close, the Sensex was down 331 points to 84,900, and the NSE Nifty 50 was down 108 points to 25,959.
The Nifty IT Index was stronger and was up about 0.4%. In the broader markets, the Nifty Mid Cap 100 and Nifty Small Cap 100 indices were also down at about 0.3 and 0.8% each. The rupee rebounded after the Reserve Bank of India stepped back in to support it following that sharp drop on Friday. The rupee was up almost 46% at close, about 89 rupees 20 against the U.S. dollar on Monday.
Thanks to U.S. dollar selling by banks and importers, amongst other things, a fall in global crude oil prices, which we will come to. On Friday, the rupee had fallen almost 98 paise to close at its lifetime low of 89 rupees 66, thanks to a huge demand for the dollar in the domestic forex market amidst a lot of selling pressure in both local and global stocks, as well as trade-related uncertainties. Bloomberg reported that Monday's recovery began with sharp offshore gains just minutes before trading began at 9 a.m. local time, and the Reserve Bank of India sold dollars both overseas and onshore to boost the rupee, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg.
Now, on Wall Street, there's nervousness this time around bonds. Wall Street is straining to absorb a flood of new bonds from tech companies funding their artificial intelligence investments, adding to recent pressure in markets. All of this adds to the volatility that we've been talking about as investors decide or are unable to make up their mind on which way the AI infrastructure boom will go.
A Wall Street Journal article says that since the start of September, the so-called AI hyperscalers, Amazon, Alphabet, Metaplatforms, and Oracle have issued nearly $90 billion of investment-grade bonds, more than they had sold over the previous 40 months. AI data centre developers like Terrawolf and Cypher Mining both started as Bitcoin miners have also jumped into the speculative-grade market, issuing more than $7 billion of those lower-rated bonds. Companies were able to complete their sales, but some had to pay unexpectedly higher interest rates.
Prices of these bonds have also been sliding, says the Wall Street Journal, a sign that the investors were caught off-guard by the sheer quantity of bonds entering the market and, of course, growing concern about the worsening credit metrics of these businesses. Stock investors, who are already unsure about the sky-high valuations of AI businesses, have now taken note of the weakness in the bond market, says the Wall Street Journal. Now let's come back to the rupee and home.
The rupee, as we said, rebounded sharply on Monday and closed at Rs.89.20. That's the provisional close against the dollar, thanks to selling by banks and importers. I reached out to Kunal Sodhani, Head of Treasury for India for Shinhan Bank, and I began by asking him what explained the Reserve Bank's absence last week and its return this week.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Kunal Sodhani: So there are a couple of factors which are quite important to watch. First obviously I'll talk about the global factors which I think as you rightly said that somewhere there was a hindrance at 88, 81 to be very precise where you know dollar rupee pair tested those levels couple of times and even after that it went below 88 also and then bounced back towards those levels. So obviously that is the first idea that that levels were being protected for sure by the central bank.
Obviously central bank does not want or eye any particular level as such but obviously they want to contain excessive volatility or in case they cite any excessive volatility in future so they want to try to contain it today. Now what's happening and why did it ran away beyond those levels? First I think it was inevitable that those levels have to be protected.
One because the way Japanese non-deals have been moving. It's first important to have some two to three minute stop on those. So if you talk about a 10 year Japanese government bond deals it shot up from 1.14% to 1.82% plus the CPI data which is the inflation data in Japan also came in higher. Now what does this has a role with rupee as this can be a common question to be asked. So Japanese yen usually is known for its negative interest rates and obviously it's known for its carry trade which in simple term for our audience it's like borrowing at a cheaper rate like around 0% earlier and then placing that money into maybe US or other countries at a higher rate. On a fully hedged basis still they used to make some money out of it which was a clear arbitrage.
But now what's happening is with the Japanese interest rates also rising now they have been positive plus there has been anticipation that the bond deals have been also rallying and inflation is also rising so rate cut expectations are to nil. In fact the contrary basis the rate hike predictions are still on the cards. Now what happens is the bond yields itself are trading at 1.82% and if you borrow at those levels and come fully hedged basis the earlier piece of arbitrage where you can gain some money out of it has been almost nil or to the extent of precisely 0.7% because once you are hedging the risk there is also currency element and if you talk about a dollar JPY pair since October from 146.80 it has gone to 157.80 odd levels. So this yen depreciation is also a counterpart that even if you go fully hedged basis unwind it you will get less yen back.
So these two criterias have played a very important role in unwinding of some trades in anticipation where the rates may rise inflation is rising and yen is also depreciating. Now at the same time Fed is also decreasing interest rates the anticipation is around 70-74% that the Fed may cut rate in December policy. If this also happens then rates between the Japan and US will further narrow which means it will further put pressure on yen as well as the carry trade.
So that is one of the trigger points it had to happen and in such a scenario what happens is risk of rally happens. By risk of rally means all the riskier assets the money moves out. For example cryptos, for example equities which we have seen in last two trading sessions even in Nifty.
Even in cryptos we have been witnessing since last couple of weeks that the money is moving out. So this is one main reason. Secondly there were domestic factors which were attached to it.
One obviously if we talk about trade deficit numbers that came in very very high for the month of October to the tune of 41.7 billion dollars. Exports were down to the tune of maybe 12% year on year while imports were quite high to the tune of 16.6% thanks to gold also. So old macros of India were also stating that you know nothing is concrete where an appreciation had to happen and there was nothing concrete on the trade deal also.
There may have been positive negative feeds but nothing on the platter to be a realistic number where is there any difference. So all these collided together and RBI did sideline themselves over that point in time because they might have also realised that there could be a new range now. So for the year if we talk about just to give you just in 30 seconds then maybe we can move to the next question.
Is dollar rupee has moved from 85-70 zone towards 89-50 zone. In spread of three months you know we have seen a new higher higher range. For example it started with 85-70 to 87.5 then it moved to 87.5 to 88-80 and now we personally believe the new range should be 88.5 or 88-40 on the lower end to towards 90s on the right side. So slow steady depreciation is important because it is also promoting an export to some extent as compared to even Chinese Yuan and other Asian currencies where we may not be competitive in trade. So all put together it's a rational move it's just that a delayed thing I would say.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. What's your outlook I mean I know you talked about a right side 90. Is that all that there is and if let's trade deal between India and US does not come through in the next few weeks or it gets dragged further what could happen.
Kunal Sodhani: So first of all I think the anticipation as per my understanding not so positive or optimistic also into the market. I think people are rational enough to understand that you know Trump cannot be trusted at this point in time. Obviously there are feeds which are positive even if you realise that our own Prime Minister who used to never tweet that much have been tweeting very occasionally you know on every comment which is against India or for India.
So that kind of sentimental change has been seen but nothing concrete and I think the last conversation which was there was like by December and possibly the expectation of a trade deal can happen. But I would be of the opinion that people or the markets are anticipating of no trade deal as of now. I think it remains the same thing.
So markets are already discounting it. But in case if it turns out to be a positive deal for India assuming it goes to 15 percent then I think Rupimic can see a very sharp appreciation back towards that 87 80 odd mark. Such kind of appreciation cannot be ignored or cannot be said a no.
Govindraj Ethiraj: So oil prices are lower and slipping even lower as we speak. Is that having any impact at all from your vantage point?
Kunal Sodhani: As of now no because ultimately if you see the oil prices have been if you talk about particularly Brent crude prices is between 62 and 64 dollars per barrel since quite a long time now. I mean that does have an advantage for India. If this depreciation has been seen in like probably the oil prices start rallying it can have a double whammy obviously on the rupee.
So I think we are very much safeguarded on that part. But dollar index on the other hand has also rallied from 96 40 to 100.36. So that move is like a slow poison though we cannot see it on a daily basis because that way the rupee does not react. But at a longer tenor if this 101 levels are taken out then dollar index can also be a bit tricky situation for rupee.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Kunal thank you so much for joining me.
Kunal Sodhani: My pleasure always.
It's All About Copper
The BHP group said it would not pursue a takeover of Anglo American following new talks, closing the door on a deal that could have turbocharged its copper business according to the Wall Street Journal, which will not clear the way for its UK rival to close a merger with Teck Resources.
That's T-E-C-K. The Melbourne based BHP first approached London listed Anglo American about a possible takeover in April, arguing that a combination of the company's prized copper mines and other operations would have significant benefits. That roughly $50 billion proposal was rejected by Anglo and it's since agreed to merge with Canada's Tech in a deal to be voted on by shareholders next month.
In a statement on Monday, BHP said it had held more discussions with Anglo's board, but that it was no longer considering a combination of the two companies. According to that Wall Street Journal report, it says that while BHP continues to believe that a combination with Anglo American would have had strong strategic merits and created value for all shareholders, BHP is confident in the highly compelling potential of its own organic growth strategy. So the big attraction is obviously copper right now, whose prices, rather US copper futures have risen about 25% so far this year and are about 14% off their record high hit in late July.
Copper is used in electric vehicles, renewable energy, and that magic word, data centres.
Energy
Chances of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal are rising, it appears, at least going by softening oil prices.
Leading oil analyst, Dr. Anas Al-Hajji, told us just a few months ago that the one thing that could fundamentally change the trajectory of oil prices in the near term was a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war. So the question is, will it happen in the near future? So let's wait and watch. Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Monday, extending last week's decline of about 3% as investors weighed a couple of factors.
One is a US rate cut against the prospect of a Ukraine peace deal that could lead to easing of sanctions on Russia. Crude futures, according to Reuters, were down 58 cents to $61.98 a barrel, which is less than $62, while West Texas Intermediate was at about $57.46. Analysts told Reuters that the market is overwhelmingly focused on the macro view, which is this Ukraine peace treaty and the US economy. US sanctions on state-owned Rosneft and private firm Lukoil, which kicked in on Friday, have also caused friction that would normally send prices up, but because the market is preoccupied by the potential peace deal, the oil prices are staying soft.
Tariffs and The US View
How much understanding do we have of the impact of US tariffs on Indian businesses who export and US businesses who import from us? Well, we've been hearing from different quarters on the core report itself. From the top down, the impact is limited as we have seen with global and Indian GDP numbers and forecasts in the last few months. Now, things do look a little more worrying bottom up as you walk through industries like gems and jewellery, apparel exports and seafood exports amongst others.
Now, Indian industry is fighting back for sure and managing to dampen the impact somewhat by pushing through deals earlier or pushing to other countries to the extent they can. How does the view from the US look like? Well, a Wall Street Journal report says executives are starting to chill out about tariffs after a year of anxiety. Wall Street Journal analysed data from more than 5,000 earnings calls held by publicly traded US companies this year through November 14th.
And they looked at the executive statements referencing tariffs as positive, negative or neutral. And what they say is that months into President Trump's roller coaster of a global trade war, something has shifted. Business leaders sound less gloomy about tariffs than they have for much of the year.
They're talking less about risk when they discuss them with investors and the subject is no longer dominating earnings calls like before. The chief executive of Spectrum Brands, which sells everything from pet food to insect repellent on a call with investors this month said that we believe that the worst of the tariff and economic disruptions to our businesses are now behind us in that Wall Street Journal report. And there is a reason for this.
The real tariffs companies pay have turned out to be lower than the headline figures. Companies paid about 12% of the value of their imports as tariffs in October, according to consulting firm Oxford Economics and quoted by Wall Street Journal. Now, Sajid Chinoy, managing director and chief Indian economist at JP Morgan told us over the weekend that the figure they had worked out as per actual calculations was close to 10%.
Now, all of this is 10 percentage points higher than in January, but well below the most dramatic rates announced by the administration in the rest of the year. Company says the Wall Street Journal have also gotten better at mitigating the cost, securing exemptions, raising prices, cutting spending and rearranging supply chains, something that we can see from the India point of view as well. And then Trump is dropping tariffs.
He also dropped 40% tariffs on certain agriculture and food products from Brazil. And this is over previous week's rollback of duties on beef, coffee and dozens of other goods in response to Americans' cost of living concerns. Companies themselves, according to the Wall Street Journal, have passed on about two thirds of tariff costs to consumers, excluding food and energy, down from closer to 100% in Trump's first term, according to economists who spoke to Wall Street Journal.
And some of the bigger companies who had healthy profit margins have also absorbed some of it.
Indians Are Borrowing Differently
Indian consumers are shifting towards secured credit and higher ticket loans, even as lenders are more cautious about acquisition with fewer new-to-credit borrowers being onboarded across categories.
And these patterns collectively indicate a behavioural shift in the latest quarter, with consumers increasingly prioritising structured, asset-backed and higher-value credit over impulsive, unsecured borrowing. Well, these are findings from Credit Bureau CRIF Highmark, part of the Global CRIF Network, and it's just released quarterly edition of its flagship study, how India lends based on data as of September 2025. Amongst its interesting findings, India's retail credit momentum stayed firm through that last quarter, supported by a continued shift towards secured lending, rising demand for large-ticket loans and deeper participation from PSU banks and NBFCs.
Gold loans remained the fastest-growing category, while home and auto loans rebounded sharply with the onset of the festive season. In contrast, consumer durable loans and two-wheeler loans softened sequentially due to seasonal factors. Credit card acquisition continued its calibrated moderation in new card originations, even as portfolio quality improved.
Across most products, lenders showed tighter risk filters, reflected in the decline to new-to-credit share. Now, CRIF tracks about 350 million active borrowers, of which about 40 million are Gen Z consumers, and let's focus on that. How is this segment behaving and what are the latest trends that could also give some indicators of consumption and growth? I reached out to Sachin Seth, CRIF Highmark Regional Managing Director for India and South Asia, and I began by asking him what trends he was seeing, particularly in the Gen Z category.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Sachin Seth: So, definitely after COVID, there was a lot of, I would say, pent-up demand on the lending side. If you see the growth rates in 2022 and 2023, it was pretty high. Subsequent to that, because of various factors, the overall lending scenario in the country has tapered off.
So, if you see, last about 12 to 14 months' time was one of the, I would say, tough times, wherein overall lending growth was in low single digit, probably around 4% or something. Also, there was mostly the uptake of the loans like gold loans, etc., which were about close to 35%. Whereas, on the other side, if you see the personal loans and credit cards and the consumer loans were on the decline, and because most of the, you know, lenders were cautious.
So, I would say it has been a balancing out between different portfolios. But now we see is that as per the 30th September data, things are stabilising. Microfinance crisis is almost at end.
We are seeing now stabilisation of that. We are also seeing uptake into personal loans, which has happened. We had almost like eight days of that post-GST. 22nd GST was sort of made effective, GST 2.0. And then we had eight days of that data come in. So, auto loans picked up. Consumer durable loans are doing better. Personal loans are doing better.
So, I must say, yeah, we are more or less at a time when now things are looking up, but in different pockets. Still, secured is a little bit more preferred. But yes, everything seems going in the better situation.
Yeah.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. So, if I were to look at under 25, one of the things that you've pointed out in your report is basically the, which is, I guess, is the larger trend of people going in for unsecured credit. And that's really the entry point.
You've also said that there's a lot of deep bucket delinquency. Two questions. One is, is this trend of unsecured preference under 25 different from previous years or history?
And second is, what does deep bucket delinquency mean in this context? So, first of all, traditionally, most of them are in the NTC bucket, new to credit.
Sachin Seth: Right. Or they've just started a first job or maybe just started becoming self-employed, etc. So, typical preferred loans are either a credit card or a personal loan or a two-wheeler.
Right. That's a starting point. Now, we all know that at this stage, people are also stabilising their life.
The salaries are not very high. And sometimes they tend to overstretch their finances. So, that's where sometime it does get into the deep delinquency bucket, wherein they are not able to come out of basically the loans, repayment requirements, what they have, and they become overstretched.
But at the same time, this is where the time is for them to build their credit worthiness, credit score, as well as the future plan for subsequent loans, etc. Right. So, yes, there are two types of trends.
These are the products which get taken off. Now, again, it's difficult to underwrite them because of the data being less, though there are some techniques that are being used now. But at the same time, this is where market expansion happens.
But this also comes with a bit of more risk because the past historical background is not there, and the person is in the early stage of a career as a self-employed person or a salaried person.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. You also said that the apps that a lot of young people use, and I'm sure old people as well, that it's helping sell loans rather than improving their well-being. So, what is the role of, let's say, a bank or a non-bank finance company in a way that it wants to grow business and also in a way that it does not attract people into taking products or loans, which clearly stretch them?
Sachin Seth: Digital evolution has taken shape in the last couple of years, and people have digital means to really engage with lenders. Now, lenders also are coming out with many innovative approaches to engage borrowers and get surrogate data, etc., etc., to do better in writing. So, naturally, there is a tendency for young people to go to apps because they feel instant gratification, they get loan approved very fast, there are many innovative products that are being offered, etc., etc. But at the same time, most of such things, because there is a new-to-credit kind of situation and there's a bit of riskier profiles, there tends to be a high interest rate. And when you have high interest rates, naturally, the ability to service that interest also becomes challenging for youth because they may not have that much of extra cash flow. As soon as it goes off the fine balance, immediately the person then comes into a situation which is a default situation or delayed payment situation, etc.
Then the whole cycle starts of, you know, how they get off sort of a financial stability sort of situation. So, this is where it is. So, it's a balancing act.
But yes, digital apps and all that are playing a significant role in the access to finance. But at the same time, many of these come at high interest rates because they are actually funding the people who are not yet fully sort of having a proven credit profile yet.
Govindraj Ethiraj: And at the same time, you're also saying that early-stage repayment discipline is getting stronger. So, how is that?
Sachin Seth: So, what is happening is that as per regulators' advice and initiatives taken by various ecosystem players, there is a constant awareness and education being done or literacy being done about the financial prudence. That is helping a lot of youth. So, in terms of understanding that it's very important to maintain a strong financial behaviour and pay your loans on time, honour your commitments on time.
So, that is ensuring that those people who are aspirational, who are disciplined, they'd like to basically pay on time because they don't want to fall in a trap of having a credit worthiness goes down or credit score goes down, which will impact their future capability to take bigger loans for their personal requirements. So, definitely this trend is good because this generation seems to be much more aware, much more well-read and also digital means are a lot of influencers and a lot of other people are also educating them on the social media other than, you know, credit bureaus like us or many other institutions. So, it's helping, definitely.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. Now, if I were to ask you about the non-Gen Z part and I'll come to how CRF is approaching the whole lending ecosystem, what sort of stands out if you were to look at the non-Gen Z or the post-26 cohort at this point?
Sachin Seth: Yeah. So, post-26 cohort becomes, as we all know, becomes with mature and they are obviously their needs become more prominent. So, they may then move to elevate themselves to a housing loan, car loan, consumer durable loans, etc., etc. Also, some of them have families support etc. or maybe they go for higher education. So, then they take education loan.
So, naturally, this is the kind of products are more mature products require some more sort of a planning from borrower's perspective and a more detailed underwriting. Definitely, this also stretches the financial capability of a borrower to pay multiple loans. But at the same time, if they are able to manage it with their income and be within their means, then naturally they are able to become a sustainable sort of a borrower on a long-term basis.
And that is where basically the whole credit worthiness of a person gets built if the person is on the right path.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. And if I were to now ask you to look at both categories or all categories of borrowing and lending, your report is also saying that basically in the last quarter, you've seen shift towards more sort of mature behaviour and more secure credit and higher ticket loans, which is a change from the past. So, what could be driving this?
Sachin Seth: On the previous question, just to add also that portfolio risk, what we call it basically delinquency, etc., is better in the 26 to 35. Okay. So, people don't want to default and that's why they are more stable in their repayment, etc., or predictable. The lenders have become more cautious about giving out loans. Now, definitely lenders are more comfortable giving loans for the secure products. And lenders are more comfortable giving products to their own set of existing customers.
It could be a top-up loan, it could be a repeat loan. And that's why you see two behaviours. One is that secure.
Secure means that typically it is asset-backed, buy an automobile, buy a house, or buy basically, let's say, gold or any other sort of other asset. So, that's where the risk is lesser for the lender. And second point is that people also are looking at higher ticket because when they have already seen that a past behaviour of a person in a better manner, they are more comfortable giving a higher ticket to the same customer.
Another point I want to add is that if you see the aspirational behaviour of the Indian population is also increasing. So, people are buying more bigger white goods, bigger cars, even two-wheelers also you see the typical price was, say, 70-80,000 rupees at some point of time. Today, it is basically premium bikes are available at 3 lakh rupees or so.
So, naturally, this also increases the ticket size. So, that's why the loan size also goes up according to the products what people are having aspiration to buy.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Right. If you were to look at, let's say, your data for the last few quarters, how would you correlate that or with overall economic growth in this country through the lens of consumption and consumption demand and borrowing? And are there any signals of how things could be for the next quarter or two?
Sachin Seth: As I mentioned earlier, the last 12 to 16 months were very tough for the industry for various reasons. One is that there was a lot of demand post-COVID, which then led to people taking loans beyond their means at times or people could not service them. Microfinance played a significant role in that stress, but personal loans also were having a lot of challenges.
Now, what we have seen is that 16 to 18 months of those loans who became, let's say, delinquent and they could not be recovered, they have moved to the provision bucket or write-off buckets. Right. But the new loans which are being generated, one is that credit policies become more stringent.
RBI came out with a lot of guidelines about the unsecured lending. RBI also has suggested certain means to look at the weightages for different kind of loans. And also, there are a lot of industry itself, SROs and others have come together to make things better.
So now, what has happened? There has been a lot of prudent lending which has been done in the last one year, which is reflecting in a right kind of behaviour and portfolio quality. And now onwards, when we are seeing this GST 2.0 came, it has also helped people to buy things which are aspirational at a more affordable price. So we are seeing demand going up. We have had significant demand picking up in the two-wheelers. We have had some demands in auto.
We have demands in consumer developments. So we are yet to get the data of that. But what we saw in eight days is becoming high.
So definitely, the growth of the industry and aligning with basically the country's growth, I think it looks like that we are in sync. Only thing is that was a risk to certain portfolios, which seems to be coming in control. But it's very specific to every individual.
And definitely, the year going forward seems to be better than what we have had. And it will be in sync with the country's overall growth agenda.
Govindraj Ethiraj: And last question. So one of the things that you've talked about is the need for stronger behavioural scoring, and maybe more sound early warning systems for capturing delinquency earlier and I guess responding to it. What are the steps that are being taken here?
And what's the journey or what's the path forward?
Sachin Seth: Yeah, there are many things being propagated by the industry ecosystem as well as regulator and the participants. So one of them thing is that, you know, account aggregator, which has become very well accepted, it took a couple of years, it was set up four years back. But India is digital public infrastructure, like we have had Aadhaar, we have had credit bureaus, we have had many other things.
I think the latest, which is on the block is now basically account aggregator ecosystem getting accepted very well, growing 15-20% every quarter. This is helping us in early warning, because this gives us a new to credit also, bank statements, etc. digitally.
Many of the companies I see Fintechs playing on this and offering a lot of credit cards, whether it is, you know, a secured card or a credit on UPI or credit on basically a corporate's kind of bank cards. So this is what is happening. And this is what will be basically making the system much more robust with this new kind of offerings.
Obviously, beyond that, also, there are a lot of innovative products are being designed within the guidelines of regulator and a lot of survey data is being used within the framework of data privacy guidelines. And I think that is what is helping early warning, as well as a better underwriting. So these are some of the things which we see happening.
And this is what is really helping the industry. Even bureaus are providing a lot of portfolio assessment, etc. to understand that, you know, and bureau data submission itself has become 15 days from one month.
It may even be looking at doing it earlier. So all these are helping quite a lot. Sachin, thank you so much for joining me.
Govindraj Ethiraj: Wonderful talking to you. Thank you.
